The SFS stormtrooper helmet replica, new and improved.

[Too Much Garlic]

Some of you may have seen it posted on The Den before Christmas. Real life has come in between, which is more important, so new updates have been slow, but coming as soon as possible.

For those of you who have not seen this, then I can say this is a project that I'm most psyched about. I'd put it on par with the excitement I had with the TM Vader helmet and what level of detail was revealed in that cast. It's the same with this one. Every nick, scrape, paint flaw and most importantly, perfect assembly, makes this the most physically direct recreation of the original *Set for Stun* helmet. Warts and all.

I'm not as much interested in the correct materials, having to trim and fit the pieces together and hope to get an approximate correct look. Here, though it will be in fiberglass, it is perfectly fitted, 100% to the original prop and all is basically needed is painting. The cool part is that you don't have to guess where the paint flaking is... it's part of the cast. Every little detail is preserved in the scan and ultimately preserved in the print and subsequently in the casts. The perfect replica of the SFS helmet, in my opinion, based on my criteria.

Okay, I think I've made you read through enough of my dribble, but I really am psyched about this, so without further ado I here present the original scan:

Removed at demand.

To test the quality of the print it was first done as a small scale piece and then later the full scale. Very soon I'll get the casts in my own hands to marvel at, but until then I can only view this beauty in pictures. Anyway, here are the prints.

Removed at demand.

And as an extra treat: here's a close-up of the mini helmet:

Removed at demand.

I can only thank the guy who spearheaded this project, getting the scan and talking to the printers to get this working. What comes after that is undecided – I will leave that up to the guy in charge.

 

[Pappy]

:love ooh oooohh:eek

 

[Al May]

Great work so far Carsten,looks fantastic:love

 

[jedimaster]

Ok Carsten I'm sold put me down for a large one. Excellent work man.

 

[jedimaster]

Did I mention that thing is beautiful man I can see why your excited about the project.

 

[R2Dan]

yep, this really is amazing - I'd be excited, too!
Right now I'm just envious

 

[gizmo]

As I said on the Den it's perfection. Very exciting is an understatement. It sure does the SFS helmet justice unlike the cleaned up version previously. Wonderful.


Ben

 

[firebladejedi]

I'm looking forward to seeing and gearing more from you on this project

 

[teecrooz]

That is incredible! So, did you laser scan the inside or outside of the helmet? [insert winking emoticon here, because that was clearly tongue in cheek, but I'm spelling it out just in case there is any confusion].

 

[steveo]

Amazing. I'm excited to hear more and see where this leads and can't wait for the TM Vader! Great job.

 

[Too Much Garlic]

Thanks for the comments guys. I didn't do the laserscan, that was done long ago by Gentle Giant studios and is the same scan that was the basis for the original SFS fiberglass helmets and likely also the one used for their trooper bust (they changed it to a inaccurate symmetrical one for the new releases). The difference is in the way of fabrication - getting the 3D scan transferred into physical form. The original was milled/carved out of foam, whereas this is printed - built up from scratch, which is why it's possible to retain all the surface details as sharp as they appear in the scan.

Of course scanned from the outside, but that's pretty much the best option when you want to make a fiberglass helmet with all the details intact. Let's please not pull that type of discussion into this one, as I'd rather stay out of all that mess.

steveo: the TM Vader has been out and about for a long while now. I posted pictures of the ones I had in my "living room" thread.

 

[teecrooz]

Yeah, I know. Thought I made it obvious that it was a joke.

Anyway, back on track. The helmet looks awesome. I love the mini version.

 

[Too Much Garlic]

That's cool. Just wanted to nip it in the butt before all hell came raining down.

Yes, the mini helmet is pretty damn sweet as well. There are talks of pairing it up with a similarly scaled TM-G Vader helmet from my laser scan project.

 

[vaderdarth]

Wow, now that beats every other trooper helmet out there. I'm very impressed. Well done!

 

[Darth Niob]

That looks fantastic Carsten:love

 

[GINO]

It is my opinion that people put way more faith in laser scanning technology than they should.
It is by far not a perfect medium for replicating and will never be better than actual silicone touching the part.

Also, there is inevitable human error that comes into play as well when correcting flaws in the actual scan.

People's perceptions are that laser scanning can produce perfect duplicates in the real world.
But it can't.
It's not the same thing as a 'replicator' in Star Trek.
The more you understand this particular technology, the more you understand the advantages/disadvantages.

For example, observe some of the painted details.
It appears that the tubestripes and trap details are actually significantly raised off the surface on the scan modeling and subsequent print.

On that original helmet, they are not nearly as raised (if at all).

The cool part is that you don't have to guess where the paint flaking is... it's part of the cast.

You can see that on the original, there is a paint flake on the front tube stripe, whereas on the scan, the front tube stripe is intact.
Something is amiss.

Here's a hi-res pic of the original SFS helmet at almost eye level showing what I mean.

Laser scanning and printing is great and can be used very effectively in certain applications.
But to say that it can create perfect tangible replicas is not quite accurate.
It will never be able to accurately print surface nuances. That is one of the greatest limitations of this technology.


.

 

[steveo]

Geez, here we go again.

 

[SurferGeek]

It will never be able to accurately print surface nuances. That is one of the greatest limitations of this technology.

:rolleyes

Never? Really?

I've seen LASER scanning technology make leaps and bounds over the recent years. In a few more years the resolution and accuracy will have increased exponentially even more than what's available today.

Never say never dude!

 

[jedimaster]

Imagine sneaking one of these scanners into the LFL ARCHIVES for just one night......oooooohhhhh!

 

[Star Wars Helmets]

Well at least we can be sure that this one is really cast off an "original" - albeit digitally cast.

Looks superb - cant wait to see it fully completed.

Cheers

Jez